After the first day of the 2014 EIWA Championships, the road to the NCAAs was paved with a No. 1 spot on the podium for sophomore heavyweight Billy Smith. After handily winning two bouts Saturday — gaining bonus points by a pin and a major decision — Smith eyed a successful second day. After running to the cooler full of drinks in the media room at The Palestra, exclaiming how excited he was to drink a soda, Smith expressed his confidence entering the second day.

It is hard to guess where freshman Tyson Dippery envisioned himself at the beginning of the season. Dippery ended up losing his wrestle-off at 141 pounds and would have to wait for his opportunity to work his way into the starting lineup. Luckily for Dippery, it was a long season for the Rutgers wrestling team.

With the NCAA Championships set to begin a week from today, the Rutgers wrestling team will send four wrestlers to have a chance at becoming All-Americans. Prior to their performance at the EIWA Championships, arguably only sophomore heavyweight Billy Smith was thought to be a lock to qualify. Head coach Scott Goodale knew that good performances would be needed all around to make the season a success at the NCAAs.

Things looked easy for sophomore Ken Theobold on the first day of competition at the EIWA Championships. The 149-pounder only wrestled for a little more than four and a half minutes on his way to the semifinals, following two first-round wins by fall. Following the easy first day, Theobold exclaimed how nice the facilities were inside the media room at The Palestra before offering how pleased he was with his performance on the first day.

Sophomore Anthony Perrotti placed third at the EIWA Championships this past weekend at 157 pounds. Perrotti finished the season with an 18-12 record, which earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships with his finish at the conference tournament.

Freshman Tyson Dippery finished in sixth place and was on the outside of automatic qualification following the EIWAs. Dippery failed to receive an at-large bid at 141 pounds after finishing his season 24-14.

Sophomore heavyweight Billy Smith was the runner-up this past weekend at 285 pounds at the EIWA Championships. Smith compiled a 25-6 (13-2) record entering the NCAA Championships next weekend. Smith went 3-1 during last weekend’s conference championships.

Sophomore Ken Theobold placed third at the EIWA Championships this past weekend after going 4-1. Theobold has a 22-12 record entering the NCAA Championships next week. Theobold recorded two wins by fall during last weekend’s conference tournament.

PHILADELPHIA — After a successful first day of competition at the EIWA Championships, it was supposed to go better for the Rutgers wrestling team when it wrapped up competition yesterday. Three Scarlet Knights were slated for the semi-finals after Day 1, and another three were alive in the consolation bracket. The main season goal for Rutgers was to advance as many wrestlers to the podium at the NCAA Tournament as possible.

Sophomore 157-pounder Anthony Perrotti taunts the large Cornell crowd in attendance at the EIWA Championships yesterday after finishing third. After finishing the season 13-11, Perrotti placed in the top five to ink his NCAA Championships spot.

Chances are the Rutgers wrestling team has already departed, or is leaving soon, for what it has waited on for more than a month: the opportunity to move one step closer to its preseason goal. The Scarlet Knights travel to UPenn for the EIWA Championships this weekend, which will be held at the 87-year old Palestra arena in Philadelphia, looking to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The goal at the beginning of the season for the Rutgers wrestling team was simple: have as many grapplers as possible reach the podium at the NCAA Tournament. The three returning qualifiers from a season ago were not satisfied with how their season ended after a total of seven Scarlet Knights made the tournament last year but failed to reach All-American status.

While the concept of wrestling for the EIWA seeding has almost been brought to the point of overkill in the amount of times it has been stressed — but for good reason — it is tough to put a finger on Dan Seidenberg’s season. The fifth-year senior has had as many ups as he has had downs this season.